The present invention relates to a thermally conductive formed article and a method of manufacturing the same.
Conventionally, as a thermally conductive formed article, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 5-222620 discloses a formed article in which pitch-based short carbon fibers having a specific cross-sectional structure are dispersed in a matrix. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 9-283955 discloses a formed article in which short graphitized carbon fibers having a specific aspect ratio are dispersed in a matrix. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 4-173235, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-330502, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-46021, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-302545, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-195998, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-281802, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-139833, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-353736 disclose formed articles in which short carbon fibers are oriented in a fixed direction in a polymer matrix. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-97593, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-199949 disclose formed articles in which short carbon fibers are oriented in a fixed direction in a metal matrix.
The above conventional thermally conductive formed articles are used, for instance, in electronic devices and apparatuses as heat-conducting members for conducting heat generated from electronic components out of the apparatus so as to prevent overheat of the electronic components. In electronic devices and apparatuses, with enhancement of performance thereof, the electronic components thereof generate an increasing amount of heat. Therefore, recently, thermally conductive formed articles used as heat-conducting members have a requirement of having high thermal conductivity. However, the conventional thermally conductive formed articles do not always have thermal conductivity high enough to meet the requirement.